A former history and communications instructor at Portola Middle School in Tarzana was ordered Wednesday to forfeit his teaching credential and undergo treatment for alcohol abuse after pleading guilty to abusing three female students, officials said.

Jason Leon, 32, was also sentenced to 60 days on a Caltrans road crew, ordered to stay away from all K-12 schools and avoid unsupervised contact with minor girls for the next five years. He faces 18 months in jail if he violates the terms of his probation.

“The court has made it clear that the defendant must get help for his problems and stay away from underage girls,” City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said in a statement.

Leon was pulled from the classroom on June 15, 2012, the last day of class for the Los Angeles Unified School District, after a 13-year-old girl said the teacher had fondled her. Three days later, another 13-year-old reported that she’d also been touched inappropriately by Leon. A third girl came forward with allegations that she’d been abused by Leon in 2010, when she was 14 years old.

Leon had been charged with four counts of misdemeanor child molestation and three counts of battery. In a deal with the City Attorney’s Office, he pleaded guilty to one count each of misdemeanor battery, child abuse causing mental suffering and luring a minor under 14.

Leon had been hired in 2004 as a probationary teacher at Portola and became a permanent teacher in 2007, officials said. He was fired by the district in March 2013.

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